Goodreads Reviews

 (Possible spoilers, not sure. I’ll try to be careful.)

While reading the Goodreads reviews of The Trilogy: Kathryn’s Beach, High Tide, Storm Surge, several people mentioned the Franciscan nuns. Honestly, I was nervous when I asked Father Alvin Herber, C.PP.S, if he wanted copies of my trilogy. I fired a round or two over the bow of the Catholic Church (in the story) from time to time, so I wasn’t sure what my confessor would think. Luckily, all was well. C.PP.S in English stands for the Missionaries of the (most) Precious Blood, and their spirituality focus is the Precious Blood of Jesus’ healing and redemption. Kathryn was lucky (blessed?) in that was her story, too.

Then came the two nuns I knew well enough to share the novels with, and held my breath waiting for their reactions. Both Sister Rosemary Rader, OSB and Ph.D., and Sister Ann Cecile Gaume, CSJ, were kind in their comments. For those who don’t know: OSB is the Order of Saint Benedict and CSJ is Congregation of Saint Joseph. Notice, I did not ask any Franciscans to read the stories? Although now I think it would have been alright to have done so. To see what these three and others said, go here and watch the bottom video:

 https://www.nadinelamanbooks.com/video.html

The Goodreads people are different. I don’t know any of these people and I’d love to have a conversation with each of them. This morning I sat on the patio with my coffee, reading the reviews, and imagining what a conversation with them might sound like. Would anyone ask why I included homeless people in the story? Several people mentioned them. The answer is: The nuns needed a mission, a cause to address. It needed to be something where we could get to know the people they ministered to and view the miracles. Either the nuns needed to go into the community regularly, or the people needed to come to the nuns. What happened in the story is the solution to the need.

No one, to date, mentioned social work, but since that was my first career, and child abuse is terribly unaddressed by society, Kathryn was a social worker. Well, everyone says to write what you know, yes? I spent a great deal of time in court, and my husband—a brilliant lawyer—helped me with the legal bits that I didn’t know.

As for the setting, that’s easy. I was born and raised in Southern California. I also lived in the Midwest, which is the perfect juxtaposition for the insanity of her exile. As a literary device, maybe I use juxtaposition the most. That’s life.

As far as literary devices go, foreshadowing is a popular one. Some people go back and write in the foreshadow after they figure out the later connected scene. I simply write straight through from beginning to end. Being dyslexic, I would surely get all jumbled up jumping around to manipulate the storyline. I have a set time of day to write, then don’t think about the story until my next writing session. I don’t plan it. It’s Kathryn’s story and I simply typed it for her.

Livingston is fiction. There are millions of seagulls. Maybe this seagull in the photo was the inspiration for him. Who knows?

Kathryn’s story is fiction. The social relevance of Kathryn’s story is still valid. It is still important to me to keep these social concerns in the forefront of readers’ thoughts and discussions. I am thankful to my friend Theresa for suggesting and pushing me in this direction. Read what happened here:

 https://www.nadinelamanbooks.com/the_trilogy_excerpt.html

https://www.goodreads.com

(This blog post was written completely by a human; no AI.)

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